Jorlps

Submission 1,755

Part of a series on Redraw. [View Related Entries]

About

Jorlps is an illustration of a simplistic human-like character with an oversized head, thin eyes and an unenthusiastic expression on its face. The character was designed by artist and Twitter (X) user Whoreblasterr in December 2023 and went viral that month after the user encouraged others to draw their favorite video game characters using Jorlps as a template, inspiring numerous results across sites like X, Tumblr and Reddit.

Origin

On December 18th, 2023, X^[1] user and artist @Whoreblasterr posted a simple drawing of a human-like character with a big head, misshaped body and blank expression, garnering around eight likes in a month (shown below, left). On December 20th, the same X^[2] user quote-reposted a post by X^[3] user @paneknwym asking users to show their most desired collabs through the lobby of a video game, posting an image of the lobby filled with different colored versions of a similar character, garnering over 1,700 likes in a month (shown below, center). Later that day, @Whoreblasterr posted another piece of art to X^[4] depicting the characters as Pac-Man ghosts, garnering over 2,100 likes in a month (shown below, right).

That same day, X^[5] user @snipebeebo commented, "What are these things called" and @Whoreblasterr quote-reposted^[6] it with a blank template for the character, officially naming it "Jorlps," writing, "parody your own favourite video games with JORLPS! like and retweet," garnering over 7,700 likes and 3,700 reposts in a month (shown below).

Spread

The post inspired numerous X users to draw their favorite video game characters and characters in general over the Jorlps template. On December 22nd, 2023, X^[7] user @fleshpies posted a drawing of the Five Nights at Freddy's characters as Jorlps, garnering over 4,600 likes in a month (shown below, left). On December 23rd, X^[8] user @SkyCaelo posted a Jorlps drawing of the seven evil exes from Scott Pilgrim, garnering over 5,500 likes in the same span of time (shown below, right).

Later that day, X^[9] user @Tales_of_Taylor posted a piece of art drawing the second generation of Pokémon starters as Jorlps, garnering over 9,500 likes in a month (shown below). The meme also gained viral spread to sites like Reddit, with examples going up on /r/Megaten^[10] and /r/outerwilds^[11] that day.

On December 26th, X^[12] user @Whoreblasterr, the artist behind Jorlps, posted an image of a Jorlps at a train station boarding a train with a smile on its face, writing, "The jorlps would like to thank you! Their species were warmly welcomed with handmade gifts, paper cutouts, stickers, and bags! But alas, a warm stay must always end! They will return to their house in Hamburg, Germany, and will return on the 19th December next year," garnering over 1,700 likes in a month (shown below).